Skip to Main Content

Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries: A Guide for Researchers

Standards and Recommended Practice for Newspaper Preservation Microfilming

Notice

The U.S. Newspaper Program was successfully completed in 2011. The following information is presented for archival and research purposes relating to the creation of the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries and subsequent newspaper programs like the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). For current NDNP information, view the Library of Congress' National Digital Newspaper Program website.

The list of standards and recommended practices that follows represents the collaborative efforts and experience of standing committees of the Association and Image Management (AIIM) and its sister organizations to standardize terminology, definitions, sizes, formats, methods of measurement, equipment, production procedures, quality control, and storage and retrieval of images. Responsibility for the variety of technical expertise is shifting as this is written, as is the move to rename/renumber all appropriate standards with International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) designations. Thus, many of the following standards will be renamed within the next two years. Additional standards relating more directly to libraries and their processes may be developed by under the Z39 designation by the National information Standards Organization (NISO).

It is important not only to keep in-house standards sets current, but also to state in any Requests for Proposal (RFP), Requests for Information (RFI), and in contracts and service agreements that in all instances the latest revisions of referenced standards apply.

The below lists of standards and recommended practices are current as of January 2002

General Standards (ISO/ANSI/NAPM/PIMA)

ISO 18901:2001 Photography - Processed silver-gelatin type black-and-white film - specifications for stability.

ISO 18902:2001, (in publication) Photography - Processed photographic materials - Filing enclosures for storage.

ISO 18906:2000, Imaging materials - Photographic films - Burn characteristics for safety film.

ISO 18911:2000, Imaging materials - Processed safety photographic films - Storage practices.

ISO 18912:2000, Photography - Processed vesicular photographic film - Specifications for stability.

ISO 18916:2001, Photography - Processed photographic materials - Photographic activity test for enclosure materials.

ISO 18917:1999, Photography - Determination of residual thiosulfate and other related chemicals in processed photographic materials - Methods using iodine-amylose, methylene Blue and silver sulfide.

ANSI PH1.51 - 1990, Photography (Film) - Micrographic Sheet and Roll Films - Dimensions.

ANSI PH2.51 - 1993, Photography - Source Document Microfilms - Determination of ISO Speed and ISO Average Gradient.

AIIM Standards

ANSI/AIIM MS111 - 1994, Micrographics -- Standard Recommended Practice for Microfilming Printed Newspapers on 35mm Roll Microfilm.

ANSI/AIIM MS14 - 1988 (R1996), Specifications for 16 & 35mm Roll Microfilm.

ANSI/AIIM MS18 - 1992 (R1998), Splices for Imaged Microfilm - Dimensions & Operational Constraints.

ANSI/AIIM MS19 - 1993, Recommended Practice For Identification of Microforms.

ANSI/AIIM MS23 - 1998, Practice for Operational Procedures/Inspection and Quality Control of First-Generation Silver-Gelatin Microfilm of Documents.

ANSI/AIIM MS26 - 1990, 35mm Planetary Cameras (top light) - Procedures for Determining Illumination Uniformity of Microfilming Engineering Drawings. (Note: While this standard is intended for use in filming engineering drawings, it is the only available standard which provides information on layout of the test target and the procedure for obtaining a uniform density from a planetary camera for larger format materials.)

ANSI/AIIM MS29 - 1992, Cores and Spools for Recording Equipment - Dimensions.

ANSI/AIIM MS34 - 1990, Dimensions for Reels Used with Processed 16mm and 35mm Microfilm not for Use in Automatic Threading Equipment.

ANSI/AIIM MS35 - 1990, Recommended Practice for the Requirements and Characteristics of Original Documents That May Be Microfilmed.

ANSI/AIIM MS43 - 1998, Operational Procedures/Inspection and Quality Control of Duplicate Microforms of Documents and From COM.

ANSI/AIIM MS45 - 1990, Recommended Practice for Inspection of Stored Silver Gelatin Microforms for Evidence of Deterioration.

ANSI/AIIM MS51 - 1991, (Also designated ANSI/ISO 3334) Micrographics - ISO Resolution Test Chart No. 2 - Description and Use. (Note: The chart must be used as instructed in MS111.)

Technical Reports and Additional Referenced Material

ANSI/AIIM TR26 - 1993, Resolution as it Relates to Photographic and Electronic Imaging.

ANSI/AIIM TR09 - 1989 (R1992), Color Microforms.

ANSI/AIIM TR13 - 1998, Preservation of Microforms in an Active Environment - Guidelines.

ANSI/AIIM TR20 - 1994, Environmental and Work Place Safety Regulations Affecting Microfilm Processors.

ANSI/AIIM TR04 - 1989 (A1993) (with 1993 Addendum), Silver Recovery Techniques.

Other Related Publications

RLG Archives Microfilming Manual (Mountainview, CA: The Research Libraries Group, Inc., 1994).

RLG Preservation Microfilming Handbook (Mountain View, CA: The Research Libraries Group, Inc., 1992).